Men’s Support Needed for Gender Equality
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Responsible fatherhood can advance gender equality and improve families' welfare. |
Most men tend to think of gender issues as "women’s concerns", but activists for women’s rights are increasingly focusing on men. There is growing awareness that gender equality requires male participation. This is especially true for reproductive health and rights since relationships between men and women are a natural focal point for change.
"Equality between men and women is a matter for society at large, but it begins in the family," states a new report by the United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA, which argues that men have a key role to play in ending gender discrimination and violence against women and girls, and improving reproductive health.
The State of World Population 2000 report says that rigid definitions of manhood prevent many men from taking responsibility and becoming more involved in their own and their partners’ reproductive health. "Macho" stereotypes lead some men to believe it is "unmanly" to share responsibilities with women, to be involved in domestic issues including family planning, or even to express emotion. Young men who believe strongly in male stereotypes have more sexual partners, a lower level of intimacy, and lower condom use. They also feel less responsibility for preventing pregnancy, and have a greater belief that pregnancy validates masculinity.
A study in Brazil found that girls risked disgrace if they sought information about sexuality while boys faced ridicule from their peers if they wanted to abstain from sex or limit themselves to one partner. These types of attitudes undermine global family planning and AIDS prevention efforts.
Stereotypical notions of manhood restrict men’s options and women’s freedom. Men who cannot live up to expectations that men should be powerful and competent may respond by retreating into passivity or substance abuse, by exaggerated bravado and risk-taking, or by resorting to violence toward those still weaker, the report says. A study in the Philippines found that domestic violence was least prevalent in households where spouses communicated and shared responsibility for decisions. Where no decisions were made jointly, 25 per cent of couples reported that the husband had hit the wife. Where all decisions were made jointly, the incidence of domestic violence was 6 per cent.
Many husbands and wives don’t discuss family planning. One study conducted in eight countries found that some women hide contraceptive use from their husbands out of fear of disapproval. Studies like these have prompted family planning experts and women activists to mount projects addressing gender inequality and power dynamics within relationships. Already, some projects are producing positive results.
In Nicaragua, for example, after workshops on "unlearning machismo" and improving communication, both men and women said the men now were significantly more sexually responsible, and two thirds of the men and a majority of the women reported that the men had become less violent.
Traditionally, reproductive health programmes aimed at men have concentrated on treating sexually transmitted diseases, which affect many men and result in millions of cases of infertility worldwide. But men also face other important health issues such as impotence, prostate cancer, sexual dysfunction, and tendencies towards violence. Unreasonable expectations about their ability to withstand pain can lead men to delay seeking medical attention, which can have devastating consequences if a serious illness is detected too late.
Men are frequently unwilling to go to public clinics since they are considered "women’s places". Studies show that creating a separate space for men, even if it is just a separate entrance and waiting area within a joint facility, can prompt men to come and use reproductive health services.
The report says men can advance gender equality and improve their families’ welfare by protecting their partners’ health and supporting their choices, taking care of their own reproductive health, taking a stand against gender violence, practising responsible fatherhood, and promoting women’s education and participation in society.
Men’s knowledge of women’s health issues can help them protect mothers and babies in their own families. Informing men about reproductive health, maternity and child care "leads to more support for safe pregnancy, delivery and breastfeeding," the UNFPA report says. A study in Egypt found that men were eager to know what they could do to help their wives after a miscarriage, and were willing to learn about reproductive health. In Mali, a project that trained men to distribute contraceptives and provide sexual health information reportedly increased men’s interest in the health of mothers and children, and led to greater interest in modern contraception.
Today, only about one quarter of all contraceptive use involves methods that require action or cooperation by men, including condoms, vasectomy, rhythm and withdrawal. Male contraceptive use has been steadily declining over the past decade, down 11 per cent since 1987.
Although vasectomy is safer and less invasive than female tubectomy, it is much less common. Many men are wary of the procedure because of its perceived permanence and because they consider it a threat to their virility, although it has no medical effect on sexual performance. A project in Mexico has reportedly increased the acceptance of vasectomy by 25 per cent by having men who have already undergone the procedure speak to those considering it. In Turkey, couples counselled after abortion about vasectomy have increasingly chosen the option, the report says.
The effort to involve men in reproductive health programmes is "picking up momentum", according to the report, which cautions that scarce resources should not be diverted from women’s activities, as some women’s groups fear. "Greater involvement of men in reproductive health decisions should give more power to women, not less," the report concludes.
The State of World Population 2000 report is produced by the United Nations Population Fund, the world’s largest multilateral provider of population assistance.
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